Would He Still Say Yes?
by New World Leader Izzeh
Summary: If he had to do it all over again, would he have still said yes?
1. Would He Still Say Yes

_**So, I just finished watching "Summer Wars," and let me tell you, if Kazuma was a little older, I would be all over him. But, gah, first I thought he was a girl and shrugged it off, thinking that Kenji better fall for him. Then I found out he was a guy, whose voice sounded like it hadn't hit puberty, but then I realized he's in middle school, and I nearly fell out of my chair. Damn, I feel like I'm getting old, and I'm still in high school! This is not cool! I'm gonna feel ancient in college!**_

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Kazuma looked up at Kenji as he stood in the doorway of his closet, staring down at the younger teen in confusion. The air was sweltering, to the point Kazuma thought he may die of heatstroke inside the small room, but it would be worth it. He couldn't stand his family most of the time, and when he could, it was only because he was starving to death in the closet and had to eat or face death as a consequence.

And he even had to debate coming out at those times.

Kenji just sighed, a lopsided smile coming onto his face as he caught sight of the laptop on a small, unfolding table in front of the tan teen, "Hand me some paper towels?"

The other glanced around, spotted said item behind his laptop, and threw it to the awkward college Junior behind him. Then he silently closed the door and left Kazuma to the virtual life.

It had been three years since the first summer they had met. Kenji began attending the same college as Natsuki, since they are dating and everything. She mostly just drags him around to places and tells him to carry her things.

As for Kazuma, his little sister was born, and was now three years old, and he was a Senior in High School. Although, since they had met, Kazuma would admit that he had just become more distant from the family, despite the events that had taken place that summer.

There were no longer any AI hackers, or falling satellites, or virtual gambling over the fate of millions of lives. It was boring in a way, but was it really worth it, to ask to relive that all over again.

Honestly, he would.

His little sister had been born, Natsu, her parents had named her after the summer. And soon, their lives revolved around her, they would come running at her every cry, forget everything for her, drop anything to see her. He didn't want to seem selfish, or petty, or _needy_ in any way, but he felt abandoned.

That was it, plain and simple. It was like they replaced him with her, like they didn't care what he did anymore. At first, he didn't find it that bad, a little annoying that he would be woken up every night to the sounds of a crying baby every couple of hours, but otherwise, his mother stopped nagging at him to get off the computer.

So he took advantage of it, and soon was on his laptop almost all the time, sure, he began losing a little sleep because he was taking advantage of their distraction, but he had figured it would come to an end at some point.

It didn't.

A year later, and they were still the same. He was more relaxed with his time on the computer, spending less time than before on it, but still most of his time. At least he slept.

There had been a celebration for his acceptance to high school, but after that, life had returned to normal. Normal being they, in a way, ignoring his existence. Surely, no ton purpose, he knew they loved him, but his sister was absorbing all their time like a dry sponge.

Two years later, and he learned to deal with it, in a way. He figured getting the attention himself would be the only way to have it, earn it, as it obviously wasn't something that was given away so easily.

It was one fight, the guy had been bugging him sense elementary school, he was a bully, no one really liked him anyways, people had been _cheering_ him. But, Master would have been ashamed. His parents sure were, too ashamed to tell the rest of the family, that's for sure.

They grounded him, after they yelled and lectured him, of course. And then they ran off because the baby had begun crying again.

In the end, it had left him with such a bad taste in his mouth, he figured it just wasn't worth it. Hurting people had never been something he liked, despite his liking to fight. He liked the competition, he liked to win, not to hurt.

That's probably why he preferred to fight on OZ, you didn't really cause anyone harm, and he could win against anyone.

Maybe that's why he got bored of it, though. It had become so easy to win, too easy. No one could beat him, the last person who had, that was the AI hacker. What was the name? Love Machine? What a strange name, why on earth did Wabisuke ever name it that?

Anyways, he had gotten born with fighting in OZ, then he got kind of bored with OZ in general. He was still on OZ, still was challenged all the time, but it wasn't the same. He had been looking for something else to do, something more interesting, anything that could occupy just a little bit of his time even.

It came in the mail, no, not e-mail, as shocking as that may be, it wasn't even a text message. It came in a physical, touchable, package. It took him an hour of searching for a letter opener before he remembered a knife from the kitchen could do the same job, and now that he looked back on it, everyone used OZ to send mail to each other, so they probably didn't even have a letter opener anymore.

Anyways, the package he had received, the magical gift he received that day to occupy his time, was a USB Drive. Or, rather, in the USB Drive, but that was besides the point. The rest of the package was filled with ripped up bits of newspaper, so he just threw it to the corner of his room and plugged the thing into his laptop, hoping it wasn't a virus or anything worse.

It was a message. From an anonymous sender, asking him to work for him, to just put a Word document with a reply on the USB Drive, and put it back in the mailbox. At first, Kazuma was going to say no. After all, he had no idea who this person was, and he didn't even know what this job was anyways. So it would only make sense that he turn it down.

He typed a "yes" into Word, placed it on the USB Drive, and, hesitatingly, walked up to his mailbox and dropped it in. He listened to the small object clang against the bottom of the metal box as it hit, then shook his head and ran back inside before he could change his mind.

Back in his room, he stared at the package in the corner of his room, thoughts of the job he agreed to swirling in his head. Would it be something dangerous? Was it a trick? Why him? Did other people get a similar package? Were only high school students asked?

Should he have said no?

Biting his lip in worry, he ran out of his room and out to the mailbox. Night had come, and the moon was beginning to rise. The air was chilly, and the mailbox was icy to the touch, but Kazuma threw the lid up and reached in. His fingers touched ever corner of the small box, but they never fell on a USB Drive.

It was gone.

He stepped back, wondering what would come from his reply.

Slowly, he walked back into his house, hearing his mom cooing over Natsu's cries in the kitchen. A small pit of bitterness swirled in his heart as he realized his mother didn't even notice him running right out of the house. What if he had decided to run away? Would they even notice he was gone?

Back in his room, he sat staring at his laptop's screensaver, a picture of their entire family at Grandma's funeral. His thoughts were spinning, wondering what he had just done, worrying of the outcome, meanwhile two parts of his mind battled. One said not to care, that if anything bad happened, his parents would grieve and blame themselves for ignoring him, and it would be a sort of revenge. The other part said that was wrong, that he shouldn't hope something bad happened to him to hurt someone else, and that his parents didn't mean to ignore him, they just had to take care of Natsu.

It was all quite confusing. As his eyes turned around the small room, they came to rest on the package again, and he got up to get it. Dropping onto his bed, he poured the paper out, wondering if he had maybe missed something. He didn't see anything, just a lot of shredded paper.

Suddenly, he recognized something. One of the pieces had the date of the newspaper.

August 1st, that was the day of Grandma's birthday, of her funeral. Blinking in surprise, he knew what was on the front of all newspapers that day. Slowly, in a painfully monotonous way, he pieced together all the pieces of the paper, until, finally, he had the entire thing.

It was the front page of a newspaper, as expected, and it debuted on it's front page, Kazuma, Kenji, and Natsuki, telling all about how they saved the world of OZ. Kazuma had a bright red circle drawn around him, in what probably was Sharpie or something.

Chills went up his spine, at the thought he had probably been watched, or maybe stalked for two years. He quickly brushed the paper off his bed, almost hoping he could brush the entire situation away in just the same way. But he had said yes, he had accepted the situation without even knowing what it was.

It was three am when he finally managed to fall asleep that night.

And while Kazuma thought back to the idea, he wondered why he had never received anything else from the mystery hirer. He almost hoped he would hear from him, or else he may think he was going crazy, and that the scraps of paper and the package that were sitting in the corner of his room, still, were just something he put there so he would be able to pretend that those events happened.

He shrugged the thoughts off, he was a Senior now, he had college to think about.

Everyone chatted peacefully over dinner that night, some gentle teasing of Kenji occurred, but all was in good humor. Kazuma sat quietly and ate, his laptop was under the table in his lap, his fingers itching to skip the meal all together and go back to his closet again so he could get back on the machine.

"Kazuma!" He jumped as his thoughts were broken, looking up in surprise, "Why don't you eat more! You're so skinny!"

He scowled at that and shrugged it off, he knew he was quite skinny for his age, that he was precariously balancing on the line between being just above average, and a little underweight. But he didn't really care.

Looking to the side, his gaze rested on Master, and he wondered, once again, if he would be ashamed. But he already knew the answer.

He would be.

"Kazuma! Don't daydream like that while people are talking to you! What are you going to do about college? We heard that your grades have been dropping since the beginning of high school, what's the matter? Are you being bullied?"

"A kid as skinny as he is? Everyday! I bet it! Probably is being thrown into dumpsters left and right!"

"Don't say that!"

"No, what he needs is a girl, if you know what I mean!"

"Don't put such lecherous thoughts in his head!"

Dropping his fork, he ran out of the room, hearing them yelling after him but not stopping as he jumped off the porch and ran into the bushes. Their voices were like bodiless needles to him, every high-pitched squeal of delight stabbing him after every drunken chuckle.

He just ran, he wasn't sure where he was going, he didn't particularly care, he just had to get away. The hill was steep, he was falling more than he was running, so when land came up to hit him, he tumbled, ungracefully, to his knees and rolled a couple feet from the force. Groaning, his gaze lifted to see the hot springs that had been built three summers ago, after it had been discovered by the satellite's crash.

He sighed to himself, regretting running off immediately with the thought of the humiliation he would feel from returning to face his family again. He moved to get up, his legs weak and shaking, from either the run or the fall he didn't know, but froze as he caught movement in the corner of his eye. He didn't turn to look directly at it, but he could see, just barely, that it was a person.

Someone was on their property? Maybe they had been secretly trying to use the hot spring?

His arm was suddenly grasped, and he nearly screamed as he was suddenly tugged to his feet and held up by two people in hooded robes. Eyes wide, he began tugging from their grips on his arms frantically, listening to his instinct to get the hell away from them as fast as he could.

"I hope you're ready to start work."

His gaze snapped to the sudden appearance of a figure in front of him, his breaths were coming out harsh and he was still too shocked to really process what was going on. Just that he got the feeling this was his new employer, and then a pit of dread formed in his stomach.

A sweet smelling napkin was shoved over his nose and mouth, and panic set in again as he attempted to fight. His movements became slow, and the world became blurry, and it would be around this time that a vague thought ran through his head about chloroform.

_If he had to do it all over again, would he have still said yes?_

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_**Well, I didn't expect to write this, it comes as a surprise. Normally, I would continue, but I found a spot to end it. Besides that, I'm so used to writing yaoi now that I would probably end up making him gay for a character I made up, because everyone is either taken or old. And you guys probably don't want him to hook up with an OC in the end, so I'll just stop here.**_

_**Review please! Tell me if you like it, k? K! Thank you.**_


	2. He Would Still Say Yes

**_Majority rules yaoi! Enjoy the chapter guys!_**

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A 200 teraFLOPS supercomputer and a 100-gig military grade connection line… That's what he had when he had fought the AI Hacking Program known as "Love Machine."

… He needed that much to kick the ass of a computer program with the name that sounded like a bad pimp.

And despite the fact that he still lost in the end, he did miss it. Not fighting Love Machine, but the power he had while fighting him. It had been addictive, and while it would be cliché to compare it to drug, a drug is exactly what it was. Like taking your first deep breath of a cigarette, and the burn it leaves in your throat and lungs. Like the first sip of black coffee that makes you want to sputter and let it dribble out of your mouth like barf. Like the first time you knew you were doing something stupid and dangerous… and couldn't be any happier doing it.

He wouldn't call himself power hungry, he hadn't been searching for the same power as that since that fight… although, he had bought a newer, more powerful gaming laptop, but it wasn't like he was obsessed with it, he wasn't a crack addict in need of a fix. But he was a teen whose parents stopped paying attention to, who was bullied regularly, whose grades was slipping, and who felt like everything was slowly falling apart and losing… control.

And that's what he really wanted back. That power, that control over things he had. The cheering crowd hadn't mattered, those millions of posts in awe over his power and ability hadn't mattered, all that he was aware of at that time, was the keyboard beneath his fingers sending his exact orders through perfectly, and his whisper in his ear to get ready…

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He flinched as his eyes snapped open suddenly, his arms instinctively pushing the looming body over him away before he really processed what was happening. He sat up as he looked over at the person he had shoved, his worry dying as he realized it was just Kenji, the college student now laying on the floor and groaning about hitting his head.

His breath caught in his throat as he realized he was in a bed, making his attention spin around as he stared around the room he was in. His eyes caught on the mosquito netting not more than a foot away from his spot on the small futon, letting his eyes stare past it out into the yard that lay before him. He realized that he was in Kenji's room at that moment, and he immediately made a move to get up and leave, his heart beat stabbing itself with his ribs as he turned his attention to the floor, trying not to look around anymore than he would have to.

He hadn't even made it completely off the futon before his wrist was caught, pulling him back a bit, he kept his eyes to the floor, not looking the brunette boy in the eyes. Kenji was obviously concerned with his reaction, retracting his hand like he had suspected that maybe he had crossed a boundary he wasn't supposed to when he had grabbed his wrists, but really Kazuma was just attempting to ignore the tiny sparks that vibrated against his skin.

"Uh… Are you alright? Kazuma?" The tan teen had stood, rushing out of the room and leaving Kenji to look after him in concern.

Kenji frowned, moving to fix his futon, folding it up as he prepared to move it back into the corner for storage, he found he couldn't help but ponder Kazuma's strange behavior though. When they had first met, three years ago, he had thought the kid was just cold, but then that whole event with Love Machine and grandma's death… he had held Natsuki's hand at the time, when everyone was mourning and girl had been sobbing, but he would never erase the expression of pure devastation that he had seen on Kazuma's face…

He scowled even deeper as he remember another look he hadn't favored on the younger boy's face, that look of intense despair that had just shaken his skeleton, the moment that desperation had struck those shocking light brown eyes, like a lightning bolt, just before he had leapt up and dashed away from the table last night. Maybe that expression is what caused him to jump up and run after him first, but he knew that whatever pain he had observed in Kazuma at that time was restricted to just him… No one else had run after them, Natsuki hadn't even taken her gaze off Wabisuke for more than a minute.

Sure, she had explained that she knew Kenji knew his way around by now, he had been to the estate four times now, and that Wabisuke was telling a really interesting story about something that had happened back in America, but he still would have appreciated the concern. He figured that he wouldn't find that from her though, their love had faded as of late, and in retrospect he figured that it was expected in a way, wasn't it? He had been told more than a few times that young love never lasts, that while first love was forever, it didn't mean the relationship was destined.

He supposed it was a matter of time for her to break-up with him. He says her, of course, mostly because he would never have the spine to try it, but he would rather stay with this family for as long as possible. Kazuma, he would admit, was one person he was particularly interested in staying with, the person he had been suspecting to become closer to, but surprisingly never did. The idea made him sad in a way, especially now, three years later, seeing clearly that Kazuma was going through something difficult, and being unable to even have the kid be comfortable enough around him to answer even the most simplest of questions…

He was probably to blame for that though; he should've tried harder to get closer to the guy… He would do that now, though, he had made up his mind the moment he had stumbled onto the grounds of the hot springs and nearly had a heart attack seeing Kazuma just laying on the ground unconscious like that.

He would get closer to Kazuma; figure out what was going on in the teen's head. He would be like that next mathematical challenge to him, the new literal brain-teaser.

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Kazuma was hiding in his closet, as per usual, sighing in relief at the sight of his laptop sitting on the tiny desk there in front of him. He didn't question who put it there, who had touched his precious computer, just that it was there, and he could use it.

Naturally, he turned it on.

His plan was to login to Oz, login as King Kazma, and kick ass to relieve some of this frustration that he was feeling. He didn't know what it was about Kenji that caused him become so frustrated, but every time he was reminded of the guy's relationship with his cousin Natsuki, he felt a knot tightening in his lungs, and he'd feel as if he were underwater. King Kazma's power would be enough though to relieve it, this time he was just reminded of how far he was from the other.

Kenji was in college, he was dating his cousin, he was already 21, and Kazuma still wouldn't be even 18 for another few weeks. There was too much different between them, and while he was still unsure how any of it mattered in the long run, it mattered to him at that moment. So he tried to forget about Kenji and their stupid differences, and as he was about to login to the Oz server, he just then noticed the hard drive sticking out of the USB connection on his laptop.

Eyebrows jumping up in shock, he quickly searched for the hard drive on the computer, opening it to see, once again, a single document file sitting there, the title simply saying, "Read Me." Well, he did as it commanded and opened the file, letting Word load it as he stared impatiently at the screen before the text overtook it, and he began reading the first words the moment they appeared. Then stopped, and had to reread them again in surprise.

_King Kazma,_

_Thank you for agreeing to work for us, we deeply appreciate your services. You will compensated considerably, as long as you assigned work is completed in a timely, organized, and creative fashion. We have great expectations from you, and look forward to seeing your work._

… What?

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That was all that was in the file, there was nothing else there that would even give him a clue as to what this work they were talking about, or even a hint at who _they_ were anyways. For a while, he actually panicked a little, but then realized that they couldn't possibly be angry with him for not doing something they didn't give him, so he just stared at the screen for a little while, and then shrugged off his confusion. Whatever, didn't matter, he supposed, they were the ones who contacted and wanted him to work for them anyways…

Although, he did wonder what their payment would be… A knock at the door made him jump suddenly though, snapping him out of his thoughts. He stood quickly, moving to the door to slide it open, finding himself facing Kenji once more. He scowled up at him this time though, sliding the door a bit more shut to not reveal his computer behind him.

Kenji was also frowning, but with much more concern, he sighed as he watched the way that Kazuma seemed to be slowly trying to shut the door on him. Some part of him was hurt deeply by this, by the way Kazuma tried to shut him out, how that boy he had looked upon three years ago, the one who admired him and just stared at him with eyes full of endearing awe…

He still wonders why Kazuma grew so distant from him since that time, to the point where they couldn't even talk normally anymore, where they talked less than the first time they met.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Kazuma turned his golden brown eyes away, his hair falling further over his face as he took interest into the floorboards, "… Fine…"

Kenji nodded back slowly, his frown tugging further over his face, "I see… Don't you want some breakfast? I mean, you didn't finish dinner, and you slept in pretty late," Kazuma just shrugged back at him awkwardly, shuffling back to slide the door shut a little more, making Kenji look nervous as he leaned forward more and keep Kazuma from shutting it completely, "Uh, but, do you want to eat in here?"

Kazuma paused, shrugging slightly as he nudged the door slightly more shut, then Kenji put his hand on the door, "C'mon, I'll grab a couple plates, I'll eat with you in here!"

The younger froze, making Kenji's heart freeze along with it, making him wonder if Kazuma really would let him in this time, and then he heard the other gulp loudly and…

"KENJI!" Said man jumped back in shock as he turned quickly to look down the hall, Natsuki standing at the end waving over to him, Wabisuke standing right behind her. She was grinning over to him, and then winked, "C'mon! We're have you been all day? A few of us our going out for lunch, so get ready!"

The door to Kazuma's closet slammed shut suddenly, causing him to snap his attention back to it and sigh deeply in disappointment. Who knew when he would get another chance to connect with the kid like that? A year? Another three years? It just wasn't fair…

He wanted to see those eyes staring up at him in awe again…

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He gritted his teeth, leaning back against the door that he had just slammed shut. Sliding down to the floor, he sighed in disappointment. Of course, he could pretend that Kenji would really care that much about him, to eat breakfast with him in a closet, but the truth would always be that if _she_ was there, Kenji would follow her like a lost puppy to the ends of the earth.

There was a flicker of light in the room, making him glance up to his open laptop, his eyes squinting as they saw a small box had appeared on the screen.

Eyes widening, he crawled forward quickly to get a better look at it. The gray box just remained there, not doing anything. Eyebrows drawing together in confusion, he reached toward the keyboard and began typing, his worrying jumping up even more when he realized that he had no control of it. Eyes widening even further, he jumped as words suddenly began appearing in the box.

He read them slowly, biting his lip in confusion, his heart beating quickly just like the first time he had read that word document from the flash drive, just like when he had accepted the job, and just like the time they had caught him by the hot springs…

_Are you ready to start work now?_


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